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RHJ Investor

RHJ Investor is the department of Rental Housing Journal that speaks specifically to the interests and needs of real estate investors and apartment owners. Whether you're part or a REIT (real estate investment trust) , independently own large apartment communities, are a small landlord with 1 or 2 rental homes or choose to fix and flip, RHJ Investor is a great source for information. This site features how-tos and best practices for buying and selling property, real estate taxes, choosing property management and maintenance vendors, 1031 excahnges & TICs, apartment financing, budgeting and much more.

Housing Starts & Permits Down in November

The Commerce Department reported that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,201,000. This is 4.7% below October’s rate of 1,260,000 and is 6.6% below November 2015. Single-family authorizations in November were at a rate of 778k; this is 0.5% above October’s figure of 774k. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were 384 in November. Click here to read more.

Think about finding a mortgage lender the same way you think about finding a home to buy: There may be thousands of different possibilities and you may have to do some legwork, but in the end there’s going to be one that’s exactly right for you.

Most consumers only deal with mortgage lenders a few times in their lives, so the amount of information to digest can feel overwhelming. Here’s a guide to understanding the language and choosing a direction.

We’re always on the lookout for a bargain – no matter what we’re buying in America we’re wired to find the best deal. So where are the top 10 cities with homes on the market that have seen the most price cuts? The folks over at Realtor.com ranked the 300 largest metro areas by share of homes for sale that experienced priced reductions over the past year. Click here to read more.

HUD’s No Smoking Rule Explained

Podcast: In a recent Real Estate News for Investors podcast. Kathy Fettke discusses the new No-Smoking rule in public housing and how it might affect landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers (Housing Choice Vouchers). Total run-time is less than 5 minutes. Click here to listen.

The horizontal apartment - rental housing with high-end amenities built on small lots as single-family homes, with on-site property management handling maintenance on all units could be the future of multihousing rentals, according to several experts at a recent conference.

The horizontal apartment panel with Mark Wolf far left, and Matt Blank second from right.

By John Triplett

Rental Housing Journal

Investors and developers with backgrounds in multifamily housing are putting up developments in Texas and Arizona to offer single-family homes that combine the privacy of a home with professional property management to take care of repairs, yard maintenance and more.

These developments typically have the same high-end amenities of upscale apartment communities and appeal to both Millennials and Baby Boomers who want the freedom and flexibility of renting but with more privacy than a typical apartment complex.

According to the latest Investors Business Daily’s Economic Optimism Index, economic optimism rose 3.4 points to 54.8 – the highest reading in a decade. The IBD’s Economic Optimism Index is a composite of three major sub-indexes that track views of near-term economic prospects, the outlook for personal finances over the coming six months and views of how well government economic policies are working. Click here to read more.

Just before Thanksgiving a federal judge in Texas issued an order blocking implementation of Department of Labor rules that would extend overtime regulations to cover millions of additional workers, scheduled to take effect on December 1st. The judge ruled that, under current law, the USDOL cannot decide which workers are eligible for overtime based on salary levels alone. The original case was filed last September by twenty-one states and various business groups arguing that 2015’s new overtime rules were violation of the constitution and exceeded congressional authority. Click here to read more.

A study estimates at 2.2 million seniors will be entering the rental market over the next eight years. This group of potential tenants desires to be less tied down to the responsibilities of maintaining a home.. Here is a look at 13 key things these Baby Boomer renters want that landlords need to know

The Commerce Department reported that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,229,000. This is 0.3% above September’s rate of 1,225,000 and is 4.6% above October 2015. Single-family authorizations in October were at a rate of 762k; this is 2.7% above September’s 742K. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were 439k in October. Privately-owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,323,000. This is 25.5% above September’s number and is 23.3% higher than October 2015. Click here to read more.

If you have not made any mistakes as a landlord, you probably have not been in the business that long. One of the best ways to learn is from other people's mistakes. So veteran landlord and investor Larry Arth shares some of his mistakes as a landlord and what he has learned.

By Larry Arth

Learning from your mistakes so you can master your business is the key to your success.

You can learn from other people’s mistakes, so I would like to share mistakes that I have either personally made or have watched investor-clients make.

No. 1 - Being too quick to fill a vacancy

I often see new landlords and investors fall prey to this one.

I, too, many years ago made these bad judgment calls (never again). It is easy to drop your standards when a unit is about to become vacant.

The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that it expects to see $1.10 trillion in purchase mortgage originations during 2017, an 11% increase from 2016. On the flip side, the MBA says that refinance originations will decrease by 40%. They attribute this to strong household formation, job growth, rising wages, and continuing home price appreciation into the foreseeable future. Click here to read more.